The Patriot Act was created in response of September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. The USA Patriot Act was passed by the United States Government and signed by former President George on October 26, 2001. The Act was passed around in many areas in House of Congress and was supported by the both Republican and Democratic parties. (Jenks) In the year of this law being processed there was huge discussions regarding the pros and cons of this bill. There has been and still are many debates concerning this law.
During the law signing ceremony on October 2001 Bush gave a speech saying, “The existing law was written in the era of rotary telephones, this new law I sign today will allow surveillance of all communications used by terrorist, including
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The Patriot Act was designed to help law enforcements in the fight against terrorist, future terrorist attacks, and to help gather information. A positive result to the Act is that it gives an increase of surveillance systems and allows the federal government to capture and monitor many different ways to communicate. An example of this would be, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) development and use of an intercepting program called the Carnivore. This Program allowed the FBI to capture, record, and sort digital communications like a computer email or a text message. The FBI discontinued the Carnivore program in 2002, the organization wanted a more gainful product instead. (media) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had an advantage from the USA Patriot Act and really wanted Congress to have it reauthorized in 2005. The Patriot Act broke down road blocks within the intelligence community and allowed a more collaborative way of sharing information globally which was a huge advantage to fighting terrorism. The Patriot Act was reauthorized in 2006 and 2010-2011. (Charles P.
Requiring sixty senators to end debate, this forethought allows senators to point out flawed legislation and debate possible complications. Further review may circumvent the issues of unpopular laws. The Patriot Act was passed quickly by congress in the wake of terrorist attacks. Although opposed by a minority of senators, the bill was quickly passed by Congress and approved by the President. Despite the perceived necessity, the bill was widely criticized by the American people and later revised.
Trying to strengthen national security as quickly as possible, this act made changes to US law, so that future acts of terrorism could be prevented. This act specifically allows foe the wider uses of actions and tools when looking for harmful terrorists. Although both acts called for enhancing national security and defense when it was needed, the Patriot Act is more effective in not only securing protection for US citizens, but is also a necessary action. In
However, The Patriots act in fact had a considerable number of pros more than cons. The Patriot's act has stopped many attacks since the law was put in place. No matter how much this regulation angered Americans it did more good than harm. Americans might not have completely agree with it nor one liked the idea of it, but it did protect the country and the citizens that reside in it. This law has been preventing hundreds of terrorist attacks for years.
The Patriot Act was a legislation that passed that allowed
The opposition suggests that the USA Patriot Act grinds down several elements in the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment, the freedom of speech and assembly, is violated because it restricts our speech, albeit, indirectly but it is still restricted. People are losing the right to say what they feel and they have to be careful with their words when discussing politics or the government because they can be prosecuted for saying what they think. The Fourth Amendment, the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, is violated because the Patriot Act does not require a probable cause or a warrant to search through someone's data and personal information and with the Patriot Act, the victim does not need to be informed this search is happening.
Ever since the Patriot Act came into effect, innocent Americans have been caught in the middle of a “danger zone” where they can be spied on and tracked at all times. The Patriot Act would be much more advantageous if the purpose was to catch regular criminal activity because that is virtually all it has done. To put into context how far the powers of the Patriot Act are being misused, in the span of three years (2003-2006), the FBI “issued 192,499 NSL’s of which only one led to a terror-related conviction, which would have occurred even without the Patriot Act” (Science of Security). Not only that, “as a result of 143,074 NSL’s issued between 2003 and 2005, the FBI made 53 reported criminal referrals to prosecutors of which 17 were for money laundering, 17 related to immigration, 19 involved in fraud, but zero were terror-related” (Justice). Lastly, “of the 3,970 sneak and peek searches in 2010, 76% were drug related and 24% were accredited to other crimes, while less than one percent were terror-related” (Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts for Delayed-Notice Search Warrants and Extensions).
Even Obama who promised, “In his campaign for the presidency, a repeal of some of its more sinister provisions (surveillance, wiretaps and so forth). It has not been repealed… Obama this year signed a four-year extension of it.” The Quote makes a point that the government officials believe that everything under the patriot act should still
But a law passed by the Congress could be so restrictive and so repressive? In general, some opinions seemed exaggerated, and more importantly the enforcement of the Patriot Act resulted in reduction of terrorism threat in America despite the controversy, which objective is to loosen the law’s grip on terrorism.
In conclusion, the USA Patriot Act has long enabled law enforcement to remain above the rules and regulations of the United States legislature. It has resulted in distrust of the American people towards their enforcing bureaucracy. The citizens of the United States have lost their civil rights and have been treated as criminals in penalty of an unknown crime. For too long, police have been able to abuse their power. The Patriot Act has destroyed the public opinion of law enforcement due to technological advances and information collection.
Clients have their individuals’ rights for privacy thwarted in a way that although the release of customer’s information is to be used for the identification of possible terrorists, there is no impediment that the very information is actually utilized for other reasons, including nefarious ones. This Act fundamentally ignores some of important privacy laws and gives to the American government unprecedented surveillance powers in regards to eavesdropping in order to gather intelligence and to enforce laws. While it is clear that the balance of power has shifted towards law enforcement , it is also clear that the surveillance does not end within districts or township libraries. Quite the contrary it has reached ones’ residential doorways and this can indeed damage the reputation of the United States as the leader of human
4. Abuse of the Patriot Act— Several provisions of the Patriot Act were set to expire at the end of 2005 and, despite opposition from across the political spectrum and more than 400 community and state resolutions expressing concern about the Patriot Act, Congress reauthorized the law without reforming its most flawed provisions to bring these extraordinary powers back in line with the Constitution. Since then, the Justice Department 's Inspector General found that the FBI has issued hundreds of thousands of national security letters, a majority against U.S. persons, and many without any connection to terrorism at
The far-reaching powers of the Patriot Act has substantially empowered our law enforcement agencies and allowed them to apprehend many offenders who otherwise would have gotten away with their crimes. Despite it being contradictious to the fourth amendment of the US constitution, it is not only helping prevent disastrous events in our nation but also equally instrumental in protecting American lives and defending civil liberties. After the endorsement of the Patriot Act, the tools and power it provided to our law enforcement agencies has enhanced our domestic security. This act tore down the legal and bureaucratic walls that would otherwise keep the law enforcement agencies from being able to share vital information freely about the terrorist’s
“The Patriot Act broadly undermines the rights of all Americans. It reduces judicial oversight of a host of investigative measures, including wiretaps, expands the government 's ability to track individuals ' Internet use and gives federal officials expansive new powers that are in no way limited to investigating terrorist crimes. ( thenation) It authorizes an end run around the Fourth Amendment by allowing the government to conduct wiretaps and searches in criminal investigations, without probable cause of a crime, as long as the government claims that it also seeks to gather foreign intelligence--an authority that is particularly questionable in light of recent disclosures from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the FBI has
The terrorist attacks on our country that occurred on September 11, 2001 were, without a doubt, the most horrific and deadly in our history. In the aftermath of these attacks, the United States Congress moved quickly to pass legislation that untied the hands of law enforcement in an effort to make investigating terrorist organizations easier. On October 26, 2001, a mere 45 days after the 9/11 tragedy, Congress passed the USAPATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act. The overall purpose of the USA PATRIOT Act was: “To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes
Soon after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the United States felt the need to increase security and create something that would help the government prevent another attack. In came the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is laws passed that kept up with new technology to be able to keep up with the more sophisticated criminals. Many of the ideas I agree with and see as routes to keep the government officials on the right track; however, there is one part I feel is an unnecessary part and should not have been included in the Act. I personally don't believe that the Patriot Act has done anything to help prevent terrorist attacks.